So the notification for Faculty of Management Studies (FMS), Delhi University MBA admissions is out, marking December 5, 2010 as the date for the FMS Entrance Test. What do you need to do in order to apply and how should you prepare for the exam? Here is a ready reckoner.

How do I know if I am eligible to apply to FMS Delhi’s MBA?

For the MBA fulltime (MBA-FT), you need to have at least a 3-year Bachelor’s Degree programme after twelve years of formal schooling. The minimum percentage required in the Bachelor’s degree differs according to disciplines like so:

– Arts, Commerce or Social Sciences: 50%

– Sciences: 55%

– Mathematics or Statistics: 60%

– Medicine, Engineering or Technology: 60% or CGPA of at least 6 on a scale of 10

– Post Graduate Degree or a second Bachelor’s Degree after 10+2+3: 60%

Candidates from reserved categories will have a 5% marks relaxation in each discipline.

Those who are going to finish their Bachelor’s degrees in 2011 too can apply, provided they can produce their marksheets satisfying the eligibility criteria by October 1, 2011.

You can go through the eligibility criteria for the part time programmes on the FMS website.

How can I apply to the institute?

The FMS will be following an online application process as mentioned on their website.The registration process is not an entirely online one as in the case of the CAT, as you will have to send an Acknowledgment Form along with your photo and caste documents by snailmail. You need to register and send the acknowledgment form before the last date October 15, 2010.

What types of MBA does FMS offer?

Until now, FMS used to offer two different MBA programmes — the MBA FT (Fulltime) and an MBA in Management of Services (MS). Starting 2011, the two programmes would be merged and offered as MBA (Fulltime).

How many seats would that be?

Total seats 226, of which

– General: 101

– Various reserved categories: 125

What is the format of the FMS Entrance Test?

The FMS test is a two-hour paper-pencil test comprising four sections:

1. Quantitative Ability
2. Logical Reasoning and Analytical Ability
3. Verbal Ability
4. English Comprehension

FMS 2009 was a 175-question paper. Each correct answer secured +4, incorrect answer secured -1 while unanswered questions did not carry a penalty. FMS 2009 question distribution was like so:

The overall cutoff for MBA-FT (General Category) was 230 and that for MBA-MS (General Category) was 235.

FMS 2010, however was a paper with 200 questions with a similar marking pattern as FMS 2009. The questions and cutoffs for each section were like so:

I had a chat with five people who have cracked the FMS admissions process from beginning to end in the last two years and here is what they had to say about common questions on the FMS entrance test.

How is the FMS written test different from other MBA entrance tests?

Ranjeet Pratap Singh (FMS batch of 2012): “A good mix of easy and moderately difficult questions gives a huge advantage to people with a good reading speed and quick decision-making abilities. You just don’t have too much time to dwell on which passage to read and solve; you have to read few lines from the passage and then go according to your gut feeling and your experience. Another very important thing for the FMS test is confidence; you cannot afford to look at your watch every five minutes to see if you have given one extra minute in a particular section, nor is it advisable to count the number of questions to find out if you will clear the cut-off. The point here is to utilize the mock exams, and feel confident about the exam.”

Alnoor Venkani (FMS batch of 2012) adds to this: “FMS entrance exam has traditionally skewed towards the language section. Questions on Quant and Data Interpretation are of ‘easy to moderate’ difficulty level, perhaps with the intention of also accommodating test-takers who are not engineers. Vocabulary-based questions are numerous and overall the language section can give a tremendous boost to your overall score. The other unique feature of FMS is that the cut-off for each section is 50 percentile which makes life easier for people who are chronically weak in a particular section. Strategizing to ensure maximum Return On Investment, thus, is of paramount importance.”

What special preparations should I do for FMS besides what I am already doing for CAT?

Ranjeet: “Irrespective of the paper being tough or easy, you still have to outscore your opponents, and FMS makes this task easier for you. Your motive here is simple — answer a few questions in each section (10 correct answers with not too many incorrect answers in a section will almost always see you through the sectional cutoff). So you have to work towards maximizing your overall score by concentrating the section(s) you like the most. And though I didn’t do it and this isn’t essential, but if you have a good command over Verbal Ability (in particular vocabulary), it’s a huge asset as those questions give you the highest return on the time invested.”

Alnoor: “A good preparation for CAT will more or less equip you well for the Quantitative Ability and Data Interpretation sections of the FMS test. Apart from the regular preparation, one has to be well-versed with a few commonly used idioms and foreign language vocabulary based terms to ensure that one performs well in the Language section.”

What sections should one watch out for?

Sushant Bahadur (FMS batch of 2011): “The english section specializes in super long Reading Comprehension passages as well as figures of speech. The focus on vocabulary is more than that in the CAT.”

According to Ranjeet however, sticking to one’s strengths and sharpening skills in that section is very important and one should always try to get the maximum output out of something one is good at.

Should there be a focus on the number of attempts or on accuracy?

Ayush Mehta (FMS batch of 2012): “Although accuracy is very important, it is imperative that the number of attempts in this paper be high. Selecting the right questions is very important as the question paper contains many easy questions which should certainly be attempted. Typically, around 65% of the paper needs to be attempted with an accuracy of around 90%.”

Omkar Sathe (IIM Calcutta class of 2012, but had cracked FMS 2010 too) adds: “It is never a case of either/or as far as the question of accuracy versus the number of attempts is concerned. FMS offers you a lot of choice to take on questions that you are most comfortable with, and hence I recommend a hybrid strategy. Look out for easy questions in your strong section, solve them pronto and maximize the number of attempts in those sections. Accuracy should not be an issue, since you are solving questions from your strong section. As far as your weaker sections are concerned, aim for higher accuracy so that you can be reasonably sure to get the necessary 50 percentle to clear those sections. Get those few questions right, and get out.”

Sushant says: “It depends on your style. Can be either. My personal preference was to track attempts more than accuracy and I scored 99.975 percentile in FMS 2009.”

Is it very important to study higher maths and advanced vocabulary?

According to Ranjeet: “It can be either a No or a Yes. ‘No’ in the sense that many a people are not so strong in vocabulary and/or higher maths, and some others like me are pretty bad at it but still we DID make it. ‘Yes’ in the sense that vocabulary in particular and in a way higher maths as well contribute a large number of questions to the paper and are therefore higher scoring areas. They give you great return on the time invested in studying them. So my suggestion is that if you can, then study them.”

According to Omkar, “While vocabulary cannot be said to be critical, it can be a huge advantage to have a good vocabulary. Vocabulary questions are the ones which can be solved the fastest if you know the answers. It takes around 5-6 seconds to mark an answer. If you are able to do this, then you will get a few marks with hardly any time spent.”

Because the sectional cutoffs are 50 percentile each, is concentrating on your stronger sections advised?

Alnoor says: “While one should try to maximize his score from the areas of strength, other areas cannot be ignored. While 50 percentile is the sectional cutoff, one should also keep in mind that the overall cutoff comes close to 98.5 percentile (General category).” He implies that completely ignoring one’s weaker sections can take a toll on the overall percentile, which is critical to securing an interview call.

Ayush however, sees the 50 percentile cutoff as an advantage: “Since the sectional cutoff is 50 percentile, knowing your strong sections is extremely important. The FMS entrance test gives you the opportunity to capitalize on your strengths. One can choose to attempt a few questions in his weak section and utilize the extra time gained in his strong sections. In my case, since I was confident of doing well in Analytical ability and Logical Reasoning, I attempted that section first. Also, I attempted most of the questions in this section. Also, since I was not very comfortable with English Comprehension section, I attempted just two comprehension passages in the section. Different people will have different strategies, but the underlining factor is that everyone should play to his/her strengths.”

What was your strategy in the period leading to the test and also during the test?

Ayush: “Before the FMS exam, I took a few mock tests. I also went through the last three years’ FMS papers to understand the trends and patterns of the paper as well as my strengths and weaknesses. In the actual test paper, my strategy was to attempt the maximum number of questions without compromising on the accuracy. One should attempt approximately 65% of the paper with a minimum of 12-15 correct attempts in each section to clear the cutoffs. Also, since the paper contains a good number of easy questions, identifying and attempting them first should be given due importance. In my case, I first ensured 15-20 attempts in each of the sections before maximizing my overall score.”

Ranjeet: “I had pre-decided to make the maximum use of my reading speed and solve as many Reading Comprehension passages as possible. I also figured out that solving 30-50 questions in quantitative section at one go bored me and decreased my productivity. So I decided that I would switch a section not based on time or the number of questions solved but based on my boredom levels with that section so that my productivity does not reduce. In the actual exam, I started from the first question which was the Reading Comprehension section comprising five pages and 24 questions. I had a thought at the back of my mind that even if I lost some time here, I could always make up for it in quantitative ability (it being my strength). Luckily all went well, and here I am writing this as a student at FMS.”

Any final thoughts?

Alnoor has a very important point when he says: “The FMS exam paper was 60 pages long in 2009 and around 45 pages long in 2010. Thus it becomes important that one is able to skim through the paper very quickly because even the act of turning so many pages eats into the time.”

Ranjeet has his own three-point strategy:

“(a) Keep it simple, dont think too much about jargon such as speed, accuracy, time allocation, etc. Solve as many questions as you can with as much accuracy as you can manage. If you are good at educated guesses or solving by eliminating options, it’s just great.

(b) Stay confident, trust yourself.

(c) Get into FMS, its a fine college.”

Ayush says: “Firstly, do not waste much time on any particular question. There are many easy questions in the FMS paper. Secondly, ensure that your accuracy does not suffer as a consequence of speed. Typically, 120-130 attempts in a paper having 200 questions are sufficient. Lastly, trust yourself. It is more of a mental battle.”